3 Aug, 2022 19:23

Nord Stream turbine return impossible – Gazprom

Sanctions won’t allow the delivery, Russian energy giant says

Western sanctions and an inconsistency between the current situation and the obligations of Siemens make it impossible to supply a turbine for the Nord Stream 1 pipeline from Russia to Germany, Russian energy supplier Gazprom said on Wednesday. The missing turbine was the key reason for gas supply cuts.

Siemens Energy CEO Christian Bruch earlier said that the company had fulfilled all conditions for returning the turbine to Nord Stream. According to Bruch, the company is “extremely interested” in returning the turbine to Russia and only documents from the Russian side were missing.

“The sanctions regimes of Canada, the EU, the UK and the inconsistency of the current situation with the current contractual obligations on the part of Siemens make the delivery of the 073 engine to the Portovaya [compressor station] impossible,” Gazprom said on Wednesday.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz visited the Siemens plant in Mülheim an der Ruhr on Tuesday and inspected the Nord Stream turbine located there. According to Scholz, the turbine is ready for operation and could be sent to Russia.

In mid-June, Gazprom reduced gas supplies via Nord Stream to 40%, as the German-based Siemens had not returned the turbine in time after repairs in Canada, due to the sanctions. At Berlin’s urging, Canada agreed to send the equipment to Germany, and then on to Russia. On July 25, Gazprom confirmed that it had received documents for the turbine from Siemens.

On July 27, Russian gas supplies to Europe via Nord Stream dropped to 20% of their maximum level, due to Gazprom decommissioning another gas turbine engine at the Portovaya compressor station.

Vitaly Markelov, deputy head of Gazprom, said that Siemens was not fulfilling its obligations to repair faulty engines for Nord Stream. According to Markelov, several engines at the compressor station are currently idle due to emergency failures, since Siemens has not repaired them.

On July 29, Markelov said that the delivery of the turbine from Canada to Germany, instead of Russia, did not comply with the contract. In addition, he said that Gazprom has not received from Siemens a complete package of documents that allow the transportation and repair of engines for the gas pipeline.

https://www.rt.com/business/560173-nord-stream-turbine-return-impossible/

3 Aug, 2022 15:38

Azerbaijan 'conducted military operation' in Nagorno-Karabakh

Troops targeted positions of local militias in a retaliation strike, Baku has said

Armed forces of Azerbaijan have conducted a military operation against the Nagorno-Karabakh militias that sought to “establish new combat positions” in the region, the nation’s defense ministry said in a statement on Wednesday. The Azerbaijani Army seized control over some “important commanding heights” during what it called 'Operation Revenge,' it added.

The operation was launched after the local militias “grossly violated” the 2020 ceasefire agreement between Yerevan and Baku, mediated by Moscow in 2020, the defense ministry added. Baku had earlier accused Nagorno-Karabakh militias of attacking Azerbaijani positions in the region and confirmed the death of at least one soldier.

The ministry also published a video that appears to show an airstrike on a local militia's base housing some artillery units. Footage showed several towed artillery pieces and trucks being destroyed.

Tensions have been running high in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh for days now. The region, which is officially recognized as a part of Azerbaijan, is not under Baku's de-facto control. It is a home to significant ethnically Armenian population.

Both Yerevan and Baku have recently accused each other of military provocations in the region, and have reported casualties. Russia, which has a peacekeeping force in the area, reported “ceasefire violations” and said it took measures to “resolve” the issues arising.

Each side has been accusing the other of attacks, including “intensive” shelling, since Monday, when the first reports about a flare-up appeared in local media. Armenian media reported the Azerbaijani troops attacking the local ethnic Armenian militias in several locations throughout Nagorno-Karabakh over the past days, and have accused Baku of planning an offensive in the region.

The Armenian Ministry of Defense confirmed the deaths of at least two soldiers in an attack by Azerbaijan, adding that 14 other servicemen had been injured. Armenia’s Security Council Secretary, Armen Grigoryan, told local media on Wednesday that Baku wanted Armenia to stop using the so-called Lachin Corridor – a mountainous pathway that links it to the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh – and to choose another route. Grigoryan has denounced such demands as violating the 2020 agreement.

Russia’s peacekeeping force stationed in the region reported three ceasefire violations by Azerbaijani troops on Tuesday and said that these resulted in at least one local militia member being injured. The peacekeepers took efforts to resolve the situation by working with both the Azerbaijani and the Armenian sides, the Russian Ministry of Defense said in a statement.

The authorities in the self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh Republic that control the disputed region confirmed the death of at least one local militia member and have declared a partial mobilization in the region in response to the Azerbaijani actions, according to media reports.

Yerevan and Baku fought a 44-day-long war in 2020, during which Azerbaijan captured parts of Nagorno-Karabakh, a territory controlled by Armenians since the early 1990s, which de-jure remains under Baku's control. The conflict ended with a ceasefire agreement that saw Russian peacekeepers deployed to the region.

The situation on the ground remained tense ever since as both sides repeatedly accused each other of provoking hostilities.

https://www.rt.com/russia/560162-azerbaijan-launches-military-operation/

3 Aug, 2022 18:44

Russia reveals POW treatment details

The Russian Defense Ministry provided numbers showing Kiev’s abysmal treatment of Russian captives

Moscow has scrupulously observed the Geneva Conventions on the treatment of prisoners, while the government of Ukraine has tortured, starved and deprived of medical care the Russian soldiers in its captivity, the Russian Defense Ministry claimed on Wednesday. The West’s unwillingness to hold Kiev accountable has resulted in violations and outright crimes, Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin told reporters.

Russia has taken “painstaking” steps to observe the Geneva Convention on the treatment of POWs, among them holding more than 40 weekly meetings with representatives of the UN and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and establishing a medical commission on seriously ill and injured prisoners. So far, 18 such prisoners were sent back to Ukraine, General Fomin said.

There have also been 27 exchanges of POWs and the bodies of dead servicemen, while the ICRC has received more than 1,500 letters home from the Ukrainian prisoners. Detained Ukrainian soldiers can also make phone calls to their families, Fomin said, all in accordance with Article 71 of the convention.

Fomin’s press conference came after the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine said it wasappalled by a video allegedly showing a Russian soldier castrating a bound and gagged Ukrainian captive. In a statement on Friday, the commission reminded everyone that “torture and summary executions of prisoners of war” are war crimes. The Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s office has launched an investigation into the video, to establish where and when it might have taken place.

The Russian general did not address the video directly. He did, however, say that while Russia has treated its prisoners in full accordance with international law, Ukraine has not.

According to a survey of exchanged service members, bothRussian and those of the Donbass republics, 81% of the prisoners were subjected to beatings and other physical violence, while 55% were forced to film propaganda videos. Some 46% received no medical care, 79% were given no opportunity to contact relatives, and 19% were given poor or insufficient meals.

One detention center, run by the Ukrainian security service SBU in Kiev, gave captives only 50 grams of porridge, a piece of bread and a glass of water a day, while keeping them blindfolded.

Fomin also brought up videos circulating online showing “torture and abuse,” as well as extrajudicial executions and “monstrous acts of violence” against Russian and Donbass POWs. “Ukrainian Nazis” have also attempted to extort the families of captives for ransom, he said.

Russia has regularly informed the international humanitarian structures of Ukraine’s behavior, with requests to influence the Kiev government, but to little or no effect, Fomin said.

In addition to the mistreatment of prisoners, according to the Russian military, Ukrainian forces have been using civilians as human shields, as well as using Western-supplied weapons and banned ordnance – such as cluster munitions and landmines – to target civilians in the Donetsk and Lugansk republics. The international community has turned a blind eye to these atrocities, Fomin said, allowing them to continue.

https://www.rt.com/russia/560169-ukraine-prisoners-torture-mistreatment/